Simon Cooper (fictional character)
Simon Cooper is a fictional character from the E4 coming-of-age British comedy The Inbetweeners, played by Joe Thomas, who made his first appearance during the pilot episode "First Day", broadcast on 1 May 2008. Simon appears in every episode of the series, as well as appearing in the follow-up films The Inbetweeners Movie and The Inbetweeners 2.
Appearances
Series OneIn the pilot episode “First Day” Simon is forced by head of sixth form, Mr Gilbert to show new student, Will McKenzie around the school. Simon attempts to avoid him due to him carrying an "actual briefcase" and having "clumpy shoes" and "gay hair". His crush Carli D’Amato asks him to walk to class with her but he refuses as he has an erection. His friend Jay Cartwright notices and shouted to everyone in the class that Simon “has a Boner” which led to that being his nickname. Simon begins to respect Will after he insults everyone in a pub and gets them kicked out for being underage. In the episode “Bunk Off” Simon, Will, Jay and Simon’s other friend Neil Sutherland skip school. Simon phones the school pretending to be his mum but Mr Gilbert answered and instantly figured him out. Mr Gilbert then calls Simon and Will’s actual parents. Simon decides to ask out his crush by spraying "I Love Carli D'Amato" on her driveway. She invites him to her house when her parents aren’t home. Simon gets drunk with Will and arrives at her house with Will there to babysit Carli’s younger brother while Simon talks to Carli. It backfires when Will tells Carli’s brother that his parents are dead and Simon throws up over the kitchen and her brother. The duo return home and are scolded by their parents. They are then sent to the headteacher’s office the next day for phoning the school and pretending to be their parents. In the episode “Thorpe Park” Simon passed his driving license and received his first car which he immediately hated due to its bright yellow colour and tape deck. He reluctantly accepted the car and took a road trip to Thorpe park with his friends. While parking, Jay opens the passenger door and it hits a pole taking the door off. Simon demands Jay to pay for the door to be fixed but he refuses. While in the park, Jay pushes Simon into a water ride and he lands in between a child’s legs and he is beaten up by the child’s father. Simon’s car is then vandalised by a group of disabled children who Will verbally abused. Simon then has to explain everything to his dad. In the episode “Will Gets a Girlfriend” Simon, Neil and Jay are shocked to see Will chatting with an attractive older student, Charlotte “Big Jugs” Hinchcliffe and Simon tried to warn him that Charlotte is using Will is to get back at her boyfriend, school bully Mark Donovan, which causes Simon and Will to fall out. Jay is ridiculed by Simon and Neil for having a friend outside their friend group which causes Jay to angrily stomp on his friend’s car to Simon and Neil’s shock. In the episode “Caravan Club” Jay invites Will, Simon and Neil to a caravan site he stays on with the promise that each of them will hook up with a girl. Jay also gives Simon the phone number of a seemingly attractive teenage girl. They attend a disco at the caravan site and Simon finds the girl and asks her for sex outside. She is horrified and runs inside to tell her parents. They then leave before Simon can get in trouble although they are unable to find Neil. They find Neil and on the way back home, They discover that he had slept with a punk girl in the car which was the reason for one of them asking why the seats were wet and immediately get out of the car with Simon demanding that Neil clean the car which he doesn’t. In the episode “Xmas Party” Simon agrees to help Will prepare the school Christmas party. He asks Carli to come with him to the party early but she refuses. At the party, Simon notices Carli and he motions for Jay to stop the music so that he can ask her out but he is unable to say anything leaving Carli confused and feeling awkward. A drunk Neil manages to divert everyone’s attention by trying to kiss the Biology teacher Mrs Timms. The party ends and the gang play fight on a trampoline.
Series Two
In the episode “The Field Trip” Simon, Will, Jay and Neil, as a volunteer, go on a school trip to Swanage. They arrive early to get the best seats on the bus but Mark Donovan threatens beat them up if they don’t move so they sit somewhere else. Will sits next to a new girl called Lauren for which he and Simon both get attracted to. Will gets frustrated when he realises that Lauren prefers Simon and not him. Simon is paired up with Lauren for a survey and they begin to fall for each other. Carli asks Simon if he wants to hang out although he had agreed to go with Lauren but he says yes anyway and Will convinces Simon to go with Carli instead. The gang take a boat out on the water but Simon falls in. The engine stutters and they are stuck out in the water. Simon takes his clothes off and is suffering from hypothermia so the group huddle around him to keep him warm and in doing so, humiliate themselves in front of everyone. They are eventually rescued and Simon never sees Lauren again as she moved away.
Personality
Simon is, along with Will, generally seen as part of the more level-headed and mature half of the group, though he is shown to be easily swayed. He appears at times to be somewhat hysterical and is easily provoked which leads to excessive swearing and responds to the boys jokes and teasing with extreme anger in particular scenes. He is even worse when interacting with members of his family. He is smart but lacks common sense and confidence. He is sometimes easy to fool, gormless and passive; sometimes even believing Jay's lies, though he often manages to see through these comments. He occasionally even takes Jay's useless sex advice which almost always backfires.Simon has had a crush on his childhood friend Carli D'Amato since she was eight, an interest which becomes more apparent throughout the series. Despite many pathetic attempts to show her his feelings, he does not give up on her. Simon is a romantic at heart, believing in soul mates, and how he can finally win Carli's affections. One of the reasons he may have not been able to have sex with Tara may be due to the fact he didn't love her, always pushing it aside when she brought it up.
Simon is generally considered the most normal of the Inbetweeners possibly because his social problems are less distinctive. The main cause of Simon's poor social status is due to him hanging around with Will, Jay and Neil and also partly because of his lack of common sense and confidence, which leads him to make decisions that he often comes to regret.